A 'GRAND HOTEL' WELL WORTH YOUR RESERVATION.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

A FAIR AMOUNT of ink has been spilled over the decision by former Disney animation top dog Peter Schneider to reconnect with his stage origins at a not-quite-Broadway level in Burbank. Schneider, who also ran Disney Theatricals, opted to direct a production of ``Grand Hotel, the Musical'' in part because he identified with the show's life-affirming undercurrent.

Post Sept. 11, a tango-ing Charleston-ing ditty about a mortally ill accountant who chooses to carpe the pants off his remaining diems was - Schneider figured - a worthy vehicle for Burbank's Colony Theatre and its audiences.

He's right, and his ``Grand Hotel'' is pulsing with a moody but no less joyous electrical current. The rich (or posing) citizens who trickle in and out of Berlin's swanky Grand Hotel are living it up in part because they sense the ill winds of change (the year is 1928) and in part simply because living it up is what the rich do.

More ``Episodes From a Lobby'' than a fully realized narrative ``Grand Hotel'' follows a starry-eyed typist, a washed-up ballerina, a gigolo-ish baron in serious financial straits and Otto Kringelein, the aforementioned tubercular accountant who enters the Grand Hotel to die and then changes his mind.

Kringelein is played, with shabby elegance and plenty of charisma, by local song-and-dance man Jason Graae. Playing Flaemmchen, the typist, is a very winning Beth Malone.

The leads are more than capably surrounded. In addition to bringing down the roof as one of Grand Hotel's dancing ``reflections,'' Cate Caplin is the show's choreographer. Her dancers - principal and ensemble - are magnificent, and the musical seems so much more on a grand scale for their presence.

The plot revolves around the Baron's (Robert J. Townsend's) efforts - honest or otherwise - to free himself from debt. He'll dally briefly with Hollywood hopeful typist Flaemmchen before falling unexpectedly in love with depressed dancer Grushinskaya (Cynthia Beckert, ironically not called upon to display much footwork).

Also with eyes on Flaemmchen is General Director Preysing (Dink O'Neal), who is waiting for an important merger with an American company to materialize. It doesn't. Improbably, Kringelein is the only person able to make himself rich ... and the only person with little need for wealth.

Intercut within the various story strands are song-and-dance numbers by the hotel's staff and patrons. In the lobby bar, the two bellmen named Jimmy (Chris Payne Dupre and Mike Irizarry) rip their way through a jazzy rendition of ``Maybe My Baby Loves Me.'' The ensemble joins the Jimmys for an expert - and quite stage-packed - Charleston. And when the Baron and Kringelein join the fun for the celebratory ``We'll Take a Glass Together,'' they have no difficulty keeping pace.

Marble columns, a mirrored back wall and some creative uses of bars are the defining traits of of David Potts' functional but hardly opulent set. Jeff Rizzo leads the offstage band. ``Grand Hotel'' is not, truthfully told, a terrific musical. But it's lively, short and - in Schneider's hands - quite vibrant.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

GRAND HOTEL - Three and one half stars

Where: Colony Theatre, 555. N. Third St., Burbank.

When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays; through Nov. 14.

Tickets: $30 to $40. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: Berliners dance their troubles away before that pesky stock market does an el foldo.

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Photo:

Rachel Strutt, left, Beth Malone, Robert J. Townsend and Dore Marott are among those who sing and dance their way through a spirited production of ``Grand Hotel.''